Blood Runs Cold

Chapter Nine

Stiles was absolutely not ready to go home. Yes, the wound on his neck was nearly healed by the time Derek told him he was taking him home — an uncomfortable reminder that he was in fact becoming a werewolf — so he wouldn't have to explain that to his dad, but it also wasn't like he could just hide the whole werewolf thing from him forever. He could probably hide it for like a week but that was pushing things.

So he only argued a little bit with Derek a bit when he dragged him back down the loft. "You're not an invalid, you don't need to spend the entire night here," Derek said with a frown. He apparently didn't miss the way Stiles' eyes flickered towards the empty bed on the first floor. "Peter took Chris to his apartment to keep an eye on him."

Stiles raised his brows, "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"I really don't know what to think right now," Derek let out a massive sigh. "He's probably not gonna make Chris any worse at the very least and I don't really want anybody in the pack coming in with a half-dead and very obviously bitten Chris here alongside Peter with his second shot at being an alpha."

"Can't forget the Stiles who was very nearly decapitated via crazy nutso light alpha werewolf who nobody but Lydia knew about." Stiles attempted a grin and he got halfway there before it faltered. He pressed the down button for the elevator to avoid looking Derek in his eyes. "Dad's gonna be scared, Scott's gonna be scared, pissed, and disappointed, and I don't even know what I'm gonna say to Allison. Like how do you say, hey I asked your dad to help me out with this thing and it nearly ended in him being killed and absolutely ended in him in a rival pack with an alpha who has a very tentative relationship with the word sanity."

"I'm really not the best person to come to in order to talk about your feelings and how to best deliver this sort of news to people." Derek shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and frowned deeply. "Just rip the bandaid off and tell everyone the truth. Either they'll accept it or they won't, it's not like they can turn back time and make all this shit not happen."

The rickety old elevator shuddered to a stop at their floor so they hopped on. "I forgot how skilled you were with expressing your emotions." Stiles playfully elbowed Derek and it felt like he had elbowed a brick wall. "Not to press too personal but were you always like that or was it a... you know, a whole you got sexually abused by Kate and then she killed your family so now you have a hard time opening up in fear of being taken advantage of again thing?"

Derek gave him the side eye. "You're the king of tact."

"That's me, the guy who handles everything with exactly the level of delicacy necessary."

Derek rolled his eyes. "I was a teenage boy and teenagers aren't exactly known for being the most emotionally open. So I don't know, I guess I was always like this and then Kate didn't make it any better. Satisfied?" The elevator stopped on the first floor and Derek stalked out first, Stiles following closely behind.

"Does Braeden help?" Stiles asked quietly. He chewed on his lower lip for a moment before continuing, "I know what it's like to have everyone else say that oh it's not your fault, you were taken advantage of by something evil. My case, evil ancient fox spirit, your case, evil thirty year old cougar, same difference. But like, okay at the end of the day they can say that as much as they want but it still fucking sucks and you blame yourself."

"Braeden gives..." Derek paused and drew his brows together. "She's good, I think. She understands me."

"I like her," Stiles said, voice still soft and quiet. "When's she coming back to town?"

Derek unlocked his car and slid in. "She'll be back in a couple of weeks, she'll be staying for a month."

"So if you suddenly have trouble sitting, I'll know she's in town?" A grin tugged at the corners of Stiles' lips.